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MANSEHRA, May 28: The Kohistan police have initiated an investigation to dig out the truth and take measures to protect the life of six people, including four women, whose murder was decreed by a jirga after a video showing them dancing in a village wedding surfaced in Kohistan recently.

“We have dispatched a police team, headed by a DSP, to dig out the truth as the video seems to be doctored since no shot shows men and women dancing together,” Abdul Majeed Afridi, the Kohistan DPO, told reporters on Monday.

He said a police team had been dispatched to Palis village to get a first-hand account from the locals and to arrest the suspects.

“There is nothing vulgar in the video as women and two men are shown dancing separately,” said a local man who had seen
the video.

Mohammad Afzal, brother of accused Gulnazray and Munyasir, had made public the entire episode and sought villagers’ support to protect his brothers, who had fled the village after they were declared “perverts” by the local elders.

“I have not seen the video, but when the issue was raised by a local man I met the district police officer and decided to take measures for the women’s safety,” said Aqal Badshah, the Kohistan DCO.

Sources in Kohistan said two sisters were among the four women declared pervert by the two tribes.

Abdul Majeed Afridi, the DPO, said he believed the video was doctored, terming it an attempt to pit two tribes against each other. “A delegation of Ulema met me earlier in the day and, after watching the video, said they would call a jirga soon to reconsider the `decree’.”